Commentary

Governor Brad Little has signed HB756 into law.  This critical legislation – which we view as the most important of the 2022 Session – provides many safeguards for patients should Idaho ever go back into “Crisis Standards of Care”. 

Idaho has experienced three waves of “Crisis Standards of Care” over the past seven months in response to high rates of COVID infection.  During CSC, hospitals have been providing substandard care to all patients.  The guidelines developed by various health experts to ration care in emergencies failed to provide explicit and solid protections for patients and families.

Idaho Chooses Life spent well over a year researching and advocating for legislation to guarantee that, even in a “crisis”, pro-Life principles would be respected.  Governor Little’s office, Sen. Chuck Winder, Speaker Scott Bedke and several other key legislators provided immense help in crafting the legislation and pushing the measure through this Legislature.

Under the new law, patients and families will:

• Have the right to in-person visitation by at least one family member or friend;
• Have the right to file formal grievances against a hospital denying care or for mistreatment;
• No patient will be denied food & water
• Patient’s Living Wills will be honored, regardless of the state of “crisis” in a hospital
• Patients cannot be discriminated against because of their choice to get vaccinated
• A patient’s religious convictions and conscience rights will be protected
• Patients are guaranteed the right to informed consent regarding treatment and procedures

One of the greatest features of this legislation is the creation of a Patient Ombudsman.  As hospitals became overwhelmed with patients amid a nursing shortage, complaints were made that some patients were being denied critical care.  Under CSC, patients and families were pretty powerless to get their loved ones the care they needed.

If we ever go back into this state of emergency … patients and family members will be able to go to the Governor’s office for help.  If CSC is declared, the Governor will set up a special ombudsman within his office to help patients get the medicine, equipment and treatment they need.

Another important feature of this new law is accountability. If CSC is ever again imposed, hospitals and the Department of Health & Welfare are charged to establish exactly what shortages are driving the health care system into crisis. Plans must be developed for meeting that shortage to ensure that CSC operates for the shortest possible time frame. And all of that must be publicly reported to members of the Legislature in a timely manner.

The magnitude of this legislation can perhaps best be understood by recalling the case of Terri Schiavo.  Today marks the 17^th anniversary of her death at the hands of a medical establishment and court system which determined that her life no longer had value.  Over the course of weeks, she was deprived of food and water, and given “comfort” drugs as the world watched her slow and inevitable demise. 

Over the past couple of decades, we have battled for Life at the Legislature.  Most of that effort has gone into protecting preborn children from the scourge of abortion.  But the pro-Life movement is about much more than abortion.  It is about affirming God’s gift of Life … from conception to natural death.  We have battled the “death with dignity” crowd on several occasions, and enacted legislation to make it a felony to assist with a suicide.

Some of the treatment guides and protocols developed by the experts around “Crisis Standards of Care” represented a serious threat to pro-Life values.  It was vital to push back against those people in medicine and our culture who believe that doctors and hospitals should be empowered to determine who lives and dies.  We could not allow CSC Treatment Guidelines to be used as a portal to normalize euthanasia, or to advance the agenda of the “Compassionate Choices” crowd.

We are grateful for the leadership of Governor Little, Speaker Scott Bedke and Senator Chuck Winder.  We also want to publicly express our sincere appreciation for the hard work put forth by our lead legislative sponsors, Rep. Megan Blanksma and Sen. Todd Lakey.

The Lord has provided an historic victory for the pro-Life movement in Idaho, and we believe this legislation could serve as a model for other states.

It seems unlikely that our observations will make much of a difference to the Senate’s movement toward placing Judge Jackson on the US Supreme Court – but it remains important to speak out and denounce the choice.

Biden and his band of radicals would have us focus exclusively on Jackson’s demographic and ethnic characteristics.  This is the cheap distraction of poor magicians.

The plain truth is that Judge Jackson is a radical proponent of Planned Parenthood’s destructive sexual agenda; an agenda which threatens to destroy this nation.

Some attention has been paid to her history of treating pedophiles with great compassion and leniency.  Snippets of that record have seeped out, despite the White House’s desperate attempt to seal those documents from public scrutiny.  As objectionable as that record apparently is, we need to understand it as part of a larger ideological agenda.

Prior to her appointment to the federal bench, Ms. Jackson served as an attorney for Planned Parenthood.  She brought a case in Massachusetts trying to prevent pro-Lifers from being able to get anywhere near an abortion facility.  By no means could the Abortion Industry allow women and girls dealing with an unwanted pregnancy to speak with people able to offer a way out, a prayerful word… a loving hand.

Jackson’s role in that case demonstrates her dissatisfaction with the First Amendment, as well as a radical commitment to destroying innocent babies in the womb.  Jackson’s record on pedophiles is merely an extension of that same destructive agenda for those babies who manage to survive the womb.

Judge Jackson seems to be on a glide path toward the high court.  But it is important to recognize that her mission will be to serve as an agent of degenerative change on behalf of the evil forces driving Planned Parenthood’s war on children.  At this point, our only defense is containment: We must be praying for a national repentance and the election of responsible national leaders who will nominate morally sound people to the federal judiciary. 

Governor Brad Little has issued a proclamation to raise awareness about trisomy and to encourage Idahoans to learn more about the condition and the help available to families.  We applaud this life-affirming action by the Governor.

So what is trisomy?  It is a genetic anomaly, in which there is a presence of a third copy of any of the 23 different chromosomes which comprise our DNA. Down Syndrome is one example of this condition.

People wishing to learn about the condition, and options available should visit www.trisomy.org.

LifeNews has an article running now on the impact of expanded access to RU-486, the chemical abortion pill.  Under the guise of the “pandemic”, the FDA shelved many health care protections for women and girls. 

Since RU-486 was first approved under Bill Clinton, the FDA has required in-person examinations by a doctor before women and girls are given pills to induce a chemical abortion.  There are very good reasons for this, as dozens of women have died has a result of complications from the very powerful drugs.  The FDA has always restricted the drugs to women prior to the 70^th day of their pregnancy.

But last December, the FDA lifted the in-person requirement.  That means no health care professional can diagnose the gestational age of the baby, increasing the health risks.  Planned Parenthood has taken full advantage of this change, trading women’s health for their profit.

LifeNews reports that 125 members of Congress have written a letter to the new FDA Commissioner, asking that the FDA restore restrictions on the dispensing of RU-486.  That letter cites new statistics, published in November of 2021, showing that emergency room visits following self-abortions using RU-486 have increased by a staggering 500% from 2002 to 2015.

The shameful conduct of the FDA during the COVID crisis was no great surprise to us.  For years, we have watched politics and outside groups influence their decision making around abortion.

There was an opportunity to take a stand against the corruption of the FDA last week.  Mr. Biden had nominated Dr. Robert Califf to be his guy at the helm.  It is no surprise that Dr. Califf has a long and radical commitment to Planned Parenthood and abortion-on-demand.

Despite the chilling data presented by members of Congress, there is little chance that Dr. Califf will defy Planned Parenthood and protect the health of women and girls.

The infuriating part of this story is that Dr. Califf would not be in charge of the FDA had Sen. Mitt Romney not capitulated in voting to confirm him as the new Commissioner last week.  His nomination would have been defeated except for the inexplicable support given him by Sens. Romney and Susan Collins.

We would like to invite all pro-Lifers to attend a talk by Michelle Malkin this Thursday evening, February 4th. 7-9 pm.

We will be gathering at Eagle Nazarene Church. 1001 W. State Street in Eagle.

Ms. Malkin was scheduled to be our speaker at the Christmas Dinner last December, but fell ill the weekend before. So this is a rescheduling of her appearance. We will not be charging for the event, though we ask that folks prayerfully consider making a donation to support our work to defend the Biblical principles of Life.

We will be serving dessert and refreshments prior to her talk. Doors open at 7 pm. Hope to see you there … and bring your friends! This is an exciting opportunity to meet one of America’s great conservative champions.

As we come into the third year of the “COVID CRISIS”, it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid the conclusion that we have not been well served by the expert class which has assumed control over so much of government.  The strategies of lock-downs, shut downs and imperious mandates seem to be having little impact on the virus.  The tiny creatures just keep doing what viruses do.  We have paid a steep price, an unknown price at this point – yet the virus produces yet another surge. 

The solution? The expert class triples down on doing more of the same, only faster.

The economic, educational, social and health costs we have amassed during these two-plus years of too-much-government will take many years to count.  But we just ran across a very disturbing figure from 2020 which ought give everyone pause:

An insurance executive has just publicly revealed that the total death rate in the United States jumped a whopping 40% in 2020, among Americans aged 18-64.

No doubt the reader will immediately leap to the thought that this must be the impact of the Chinese Virus.  Not so.  Here’s a quote from an article in the Gateway Pundit (01.04.22):

“Working aged Americans have been dying at an unprecedented pace ever since the beginning of the manufactured COVID-19 pandemic, according to one of the largest insurance companies – but, somehow, the dreaded China-virus … has little to do with the catastrophic increase.

“Scott Davison, CEO of OneAmerica, presented data at a conference in December in which he showed that the death rate among Americans aged 18-64 has skyrocketed by a jaw-dropping 40% compared to pre-pandemic levels.  Davison stressed that he was talking about ‘huge, huge numbers’ … which are the highest in the history of the [life insurance] business.”

There have been occasional stories about higher suicide rates, deaths from drug and alcohol abuse during these past couple years.  While all the focus from our “leaders” and “experts” has been C19 – the simple truth is that the number one killer remains heart disease, followed by any number of other traditional causes of death ranking well ahead of C19.

One can only surmise that things have gotten so far out of perspective that we have lost sight of the basics of health care.  One wonders what impact hospital management and radical changes to health care delivery have had on the overall health of America.  From the data collected by the insurance industry, it certainly can’t be good.

Aside from 2020 being an extraordinarily lethal year – we must also note the tremendous long-term economic cost of losing so many productive Americans from THE critical demographic group in our economy. 

It is time for a great reset in our approach to the pandemic, beginning with a thorough review of the health care industry’s decision to push other health care threats to the back of the bus … while refusing to develop effective treatment protocols for patients in the early stages of COVID. 

The Left has begun to tumble to the real possibility that the US Supreme Court is on the verge of overturning Roe. Their agents in the MSM have begun publishing articles ranging from the grossly ill-informed to the mildly propagandistic in quality.

We join many in the pro-Life community in nurturing hope that justice for preborn children, at least for those living in pro-Life states, may be on the horizon. We say that, knowing that conservatives have been repeatedly disappointed with the Court. Attorneys we have consulted over the past year are largely in agreement that there is little reason for the Court to have accepted the Dobbs case unless it planned decisive action in defense of preborn children.  Our hopes are not, then, without foundation.

The stakes could not be bigger, and pro-Lifers need to take our duty to pray for the members of the Court very seriously.

But we have been here before. There was increasing tension back in 1992 when the Court last considered the fundamental issues involved in creating a “constitutional right” to kill one’s preborn child. Sandra Day O’Connor was once seen as the crucial pro-Life addition to the Court; hopes rose that the Casey decision would restore basic decency to American society. But, alas, the justices blinked. Rumors and books have circulated since that momentous day describing the deliberations and cold-blooded poker being played within the Court’s chambers. O’Connor was persuaded to craft a “compromise” opinion in which the Court would restructure Roe and allow greater authority to the states.  And, indeed, we did gain some latitude to work.  Just not enough.  And certainly, the raw injustice of slaughtering preborn children remains O’Connor’s legacy.

Our hope, therefore, is constrained by that history.

Yet hope remains. The Court has made it clear that it has taken up just one central question in the Dobbs case: whether “viability” is a workable legal concept. This is the evil lynch pin of the legal reasoning behind legalized abortion. This idea involves the arbitrary division of human beings into those worthy of care, worthy of recognition … and those who are not. Going back to the days of Roe, the Court has declared that those people who have not reached the point of “viability” can be killed without limitation or need of excuse.  They have not yet earned their claim to belong to the human family.  Those preborn babies in the womb after the magical moment of “viability” can also be killed; but our status as a “civilized society” requires that we offer some kind of excuse. Admittedly, that is a crude way to explain Supreme Court edicts over the years, but it captures the sophistry this institution has indulged in to protect its image while foisting murderous barbarity upon America.

A deep study of the Supreme Court rulings on abortion reveals not just sophistry … but great cynicism.

When the Court first announced that it had discovered a “right” to kill one’s baby in 1973, it no doubt feared that most Americans would be scandalized. To mitigate that shock, to assuage the conscience, it fabricated the notion that it would allow some protections for babies post-viability.  Not all babies would be slaughtered, the Court cynically assured: We are not, after all, a nation of barbarians.

Many states took the Court seriously. They began passing legislation to restrict or even ban abortions after the point of “viability.”  But over the years, the Supreme Court rejected every such attempt. In fact, it resisted any attempt to create a hard legal definition of what it meant by “viability.” 

Thus, the concept of “viability” continues to be meaningless. The fact is, it is legal to kill any baby in America for any reason up to the point of live birth.  The first real prohibition on abortion came through litigation around Partial Birth Abortion. Finally, there was an end point.  Unfortunately, that was only a relief for those babies able to fight their way into the birth canal. The rest have been out of luck for forty-eight years.

We can now appreciate with greater clarity why this Dobbs case, and the Court’s reconsideration of the central tenet of “viability,” could be the great game changer for preborn babies.

Idaho Chooses Life is greatly humbled by the fact that the Lord created an opportunity for us to directly participate in this historic case.  In partnership with the Catholic Medical Association, the National Association of Catholic Nurses and the Texas Alliance for Life, we were able to retain the services of Ms. Maura Quinlan to represent us before the Supreme Court.  She has written and filed an amicus brief on our behalf which brilliantly dissects the poverty of the Court’s previous edicts on “viability”.  Her reasoning is sharp; her writing is powerful. It is hard to imagine how an intellectually honest jurist could read her brief and come to any conclusion other than that this absurd and arbitrary notion of “viability” must be scrapped. Roe itself must be abandoned; America must be freed to repent of this great national sin.

In its place we must again enshrine the simple fact that a person is a person, no matter how small.

But let us address the central challenge you, the reader, must accept:  This matter of abortion has never been about intellectual arguments or science.  It is a weak canard to hide behind the notion that “science” has led us to a deeper understanding of human development.  While that may be true, it has nothing to do with abortion.  Our ancestors were never confused about where babies came from, or the fact that they were human.

No, friend, this issue has always been spiritual in nature.  It is, obviously, a matter of the greatest evil. We must realize, therefore, that the spiritual warfare raging around these nine members of the Court is incredible.  This, we believe, is the real explanation for the Court’s failure of courage in 1992 – the last time legalized abortion was seriously considered.  Our job now is to be ceaseless in prayer on behalf of those justices with a conscience.  We all must beseech the Almighty to grant them clarity of mind and courage of heart to defend the helpless victims of abortion.  Only with His help can they face the storm.

This may be our last chance.

The annual Treasure Valley Life Chain will take place this afternoon, Sunday October 3rd. We will gather on Milwaukee across from the Olive Garden from 2-4 pm.

The Life Chain is part of a national effort to bring abortion out from the shadows – the “silent killer”. We will be joining with pro-Lifers in over 800 cities pleading for restoration of legal protections for preborn children. This year’s event will focus on prayer for the members of the U.S. Supreme Court, who begin their new term tomorrow.

During this term, the Supreme Court will render a decision in the Dobbs case – the most important abortion case to reach the high court in some 30 years.

Every year we witness miracles. Don’t miss out! Even if you can only stay for part of the time, we’d love to see you. Signs will be provided.

For the first time in history, the U.S. House has just voted to create a federal law allowing for the killing of preborn children.  The legislation was passed on a vote of 218-211, without a single Republican vote.  One brave Democrat opposed the bill.

This radical legislation would make it legal to abort a baby for any reason up until live birth.  Even more astonishing: it would supersede and supplant any and all state laws restricting abortion at any point in a pregnancy.  Thus, Idaho’s laws regarding informed consent or parental consent for girls would become null and void under the terms of Nancy’s vision for a new America.  Gone would be any understanding of states rights; gone, too, would be any legal duty to care for babies who somehow survive the chemical or surgical tortures of the abortion procedure.  Even the Ban on Partial Birth Abortions would be repealed by Nancy’s dark version of “social justice”.

The legislation is so radical that not even pro-abortion Republican Susan Collins (R-Maine) will support the bill once it gets to the U.S. Senate.  It is unclear how the Democrat Joe Manchin will vote once it gets to the floor.

With the lopsided House vote, there can no longer be any serious argument regarding the Democrat Party’s embrace of child sacrifice as the central tenet of their political faith. They have officially become the party of death.

Planned Parenthood has cashed-in its marker with Democrat politicians, demanding that they use their slim hold on congressional power to codify Roe v. Wade in federal law.  Up until this week, Planned Parenthood has relied upon their extraordinary influence in the federal judiciary to protect their death empire.  But the threat of a reversal of Roe coming in this next term of the U.S. Supreme Court has caused the Abortion Industry to hit the panic button.

That term of the Court will begin early next month, with oral arguments in the Dobbs case scheduled for December.  We must be in earnest prayer for the members of that Court.  We must clang the gates of Paradise, asking the Lord to grant those justices courage and integrity in the face of great spiritual oppression.

The Board of Idaho Chooses Life has adopted a Resolution, calling for the protection of the conscience rights of health care providers and other Idaho employees from being forced into choosing between their livelihood and submitting to a COVID vaccination.

Idaho Chooses Life has brought several pieces of legislation over the years to protect the conscience rights of health care providers.  Defending religious liberty and conscience rights have always been a core part of ICL’s mission.

“The Board is not taking a position on vaccination per se,” Executive Director David Ripley said in a prepared statement.  “Though there are a couple of vaccines out there that use aborted baby tissue and we are adamantly opposed to such heinous methods.  But we feel the need to rise in defense of all Idaho citizens to make an informed decision for themselves as to whether vaccination against COVID makes sense for them.  No one should be coerced into accepting medical treatment they do not want.”

Idaho Chooses Life has also been active in pressing for informed consent legislation over the years.  The key moral principle behind such legislation is that women must be informed of the risks associated with abortion.  And, in fact, ICL got legislation passed several years ago making it a crime to coerce a woman into getting an abortion.

“A person cannot give voluntary, informed consent to any medical procedure if they are being coerced,” Ripley added.  “And it is obvious that threats to lose one’s job constitute serious coercion.  We call on the Legislature to once again take a stand and provide protections for health care workers, as well as other employees, from this violation of our most fundamental rights as citizens and human beings.”